After 42 straight losses, Chase Elliott finally ended his losing streak after winning the AutoTrader EchoPark 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas on Sunday.
This is something his friend Bubba Wallace had fun ribbing him about.
But with his win, he also ended something else. A curse.
A Hooters’ curse.
The Hooters Curse is Broken
No driver racing with Hooters as its main sponsor had won since in 1992, that driver being the late Alan Kulwicki.
So for three decades, no NASCAR wins for Hooters.
Unfortunately some of that history is dark.
Yardbarker reports, “Kulwicki along with two Hooters executives died in a plane crash on April 1, 1993. The restaurant chain has sponsored a few other drivers since Kulwicki’s death, but none had won a race until Elliott did on Sunday. The history was not lost of Elliott. During a post-race interview, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series winner called it a ‘dream of mine’ to pay homage to Kulwicki with a win.”
Honoring the Late Alan Kulwicki
“Hooters has been a partner of ours for a number of years now,” said Elliott. “And it’s been a dream of mine to pay respect to the late Alan Kulwicki and drive in this car to a victory.”
Elliott has partnered with Hooters for eight years, going all the way back to 2017. In 2019, the food chain became his primary sponsor.
His won on Sunday marked the fourth time ever a NASCAR driver has won with Hooters as their main sponsor.
The other three times were Kulwicki which happened over the span of 301 days.